PATHWAY PROJECTS
FEB 9th 2023
Today was the first day of our new module called AGP577 Pathway Projects. Within the lecture was a briefing for the module including key dates and information as well as seeing past examples that students have produced for this module so that we can have a somewhat idea of the expectations and work to produce. The basis of the module is to create a fashion space based of the theme ‘future bodies’. At first, this sounded really interesting and something I’m capable of doing however after seeing past work, it slightly threw me off. This was because each example was so different from one another and therefore showed that within this module, you have a lot of creative freedom and its so broad that you can really create anything to do with the theme. For example you could create a physical piece like sculptures, a virtual exhibition, animations and the list goes on. These are examples that I’m really unfamiliar with and have no experience in therefore I’m a bit stuck on what to do. From this I firstly want to decide what future bodies means to me, do appropriate research to help and also attend the workshops to learn new skills and perhaps help me on how I will produce my final piece.
FEB 23rd 2023
On this day, in this lecture we got put into groups and pulled a piece of paper saying a theme randomly so that we could create a quick and easy ‘fashion space’. My group got ‘graphics’ and the example was using tape to create striking outlines. From this, a member of the group came up with the idea of doing a ‘crime scene esc’ space. The space at university we chose was on the ground floor, near reception and we outlines the bodies of two members of our group with tape. We added fabrics around to look like the bodies had stolen them and added typography as well. I found this exercise really fun and it was interesting to see the other groups examples. I liked ours as when you stood on the balcony, it looked like you were overlooking the ‘crime’ whereas when standing next to it, it almost felt like you were a part of the ‘crime’. In terms of how my ideas and concepts are progressing, i’m still slightly stuck however I’m still doing research and about to start attending workshops next week to learn new skills.
MARCH 2nd 2023
Today I had two workshops to attend. The morning one with Mark was about Space Mapping where we learnt about the main functions of data visualisation and the ‘LATCH’ technique which was a guide to structuring data. He also showed us examples of people who use said techniques and the different types of mapping such as Stefanie Posavec and Edward Tufte. This was really interesting to see the different types of mapping techniques and how it could apply to our work. We also got put into groups to do the ‘LATCH’ technique ourselves where we got random objects around the class and categorised them based off the alphabetical order, location etc. My afternoon lecture consisted of working in Edward Street where we were taught how to use the software After Affects with a man named Ben. It was a fun three hours where I learnt the basic tools to move and animate images/text and also how to add backgrounds to replace green screens. To my surprise, it was a lot harder then it looks! There was a million buttons to press that meant different things just to do simple animation but the end result was very rewarding when I got to see my work. Both these workshops were equally interesting and entertaining and I definitely learnt some new skills.
MARCH 9th 2023
On this day, Mark taught us about AI and the metaverse which I found very interesting. Softwares such as Stable Diffusion, Dall. E 2, ChatGPT are examples of apps and websites where you can use AI. This is something I’m slightly interested in using within my project however I’m unsure how yet. He also spoke about the metaverse where the word originated from a book from 1992 named Snow-crash. We talked about how the metaverse is a virtual world and its key values such as immersion and interaction. We made images with AI such as these included images which shows a flower created by AI when typing the prompt ‘alien flower’. In terms of how the module is going, I’m still feeling slightly overwhelmed with what to do, I have a couple ideas however I’m yet to land on one that I’m eager to do.
IDEA CONCEPT-
After feeling stressed that I haven’t landed on a set idea for the module yet, I decided to pick one. I had a couple ideas such as future bodies meaning skeletal bodies, exoskeletons, bodies of water/nature, religious views on future bodies etc. The reason for not choosing an idea even though I have lots I’ve already thought of was due to feeling overwhelmed on what I would actually produce as an end result. I decided to just pick the one that interested me the most and that was the idea of our future bodies being spirits or re-incarnated when we pass. I thought about what I would want to be if I was re-incarnated which is a jellyfish and explained in more detail within my sketchbook. The process of getting to my final idea is also documented but in short I want too:
-Create a physical space with jellyfish models I will make. The space will have mood lighting to depict the sea and the sculptures will possibly be made from wire or plastics. I want to make music or find music to accompany and take videos to show and hear. Luckily to me, my brother is highly experienced in making music on FL Studio and therefore I’m hoping he can teach me as I think it would be a really personal touch to have music I’ve produced.
-Fashion photoshoot with a model wearing a garment that has elements that depict jellyfish features.
-All videography and photography of shoot and space presented on a website. I also may add some graphic elements in the theme of nature and jellyfish as a future body.
-Fashion focus: Found objects. All materials and garments will be sourced and upcycled from materials I already own. This makes the process as sustainable as possible.
-Overall my main focus is having a hybrid of having a lot of different material to work with rather then just going down one path. E.g having digital, graphic, sound and physical elements that I will produce therefore wanting it all to be collected on a website.
MARCH 10th 2023
In the afternoon, I attended a workshop which was 3D model making with Emma. We looked at examples of artists who specialise in 3D model making such as Josef Svoboda amongst others which was really interesting to see and learn. We had a brief introduction to the type of models we were making which were called ‘scenic models’ usually made out of white foam that consist of typically mini versions of a large experience you want to make. As I have a current idea for what I want to produce for this module, I made something similar to that idea. My idea being how future bodies to some, may be the belief of re-incarnation where after you pass, you come back as a desired animal. I’ve always said I’d be a jellyfish therefore I made a cardboard jelly fish that hung and could be moved up/down with a piece of string. I really struggled with this workshop as I feel like my current idea isnt good enough/ too hard to achieve and I am also not great at physical arty stuff which may become a later problem as for some reason I’m leaning towards making a physical sculpture (I have no experience with doing this).
MARCH 16TH 2023
Today I had an online teams call with Daniela to talk about my idea and present slides speaking about my chosen fashion focus, spaces I’m exploring, what the theme means to me and more. I was nervous about presenting my idea as I always don’t think they are good enough however Daniela really liked my idea and the call was highly beneficial to me. I also got to see other peoples idea’s which was really interesting to see how they have interpreted the theme ‘future bodies’ themselves. We discussed the next steps and how I need to make prototypes and experiment with things such as lighting. Overall Im just solidifying my plan. Im feeling better now I have a rough plan however I’m sceptical about the amount of work I need to get done over the next few weeks.
MARCH 23RD 2023
In these last few weeks before we break up for easter break, the lectures tended to be an open studio where we can come in and do work with the help of our lecturers if needed. Personally I find working from home a lot easier than working at university due to being more focused and less distracted by friends whilst in the comfort of my room so I decided to stay at home so I could crack on with my sketchbook for this module. I did a lot of research on different types of installations and designers who use physical spaces such as sets made for the brands Jil sander and Tod. I felt it was vital to research types of installations due to wanting to create a physical space for my project. I also researched designers Camille Cortet who creates ornaments of the body inspired by animal adaptations and also Bart Hess who creates photography inspired by our theme for the project, future bodies. This was really interesting as my personal interest and space i want to create is inspired by nature which seems to be a reoccurring theme of inspiration for a lot of designers and creatives I’ve researched. Whilst Cortet looks at how animals have evolved and adapted their bodies in ways to shed their skin or intimidate, Hess looks at the relationship between nature and technology. My next steps is to start making prototypes of my jellyfish out of both wire and plastic so that I can pick a material I’d rather work with. At this moment, I’m feeling a lot more confident with how to project is going due to having a solidified plan. I plan on doing work throughout easter break.
APRIL 6TH- prototype making
This is my first week home after being at university for three months. It’s been really nice and busy seeing friends and family but I made time to make some prototypes of my jellyfish sculptures in order to find out what material I will want to use for the real thing. Before doing the prototypes, I was leaning more to making one big wire jellyfish that had a lighting fixture inside. However after experimenting with both plastics and wire, that changed. I first did my wire jellyfish prototype out of very thin wire I already owned. Documented more detail in my sketchbook, the mini wire jellyfish ended up being not very good and the wire was really hard to work with as it was flimsy. The wire jellyfish wasn’t accurate to what my original plan was where I wanted to make it out of pre-used lampshades and fairy lights therefore after making it, I knew I would need to make another more accurate prototype with better wire. However I then went on to experiment with re-used plastic bottles. I cut them up, melted certain parts with a lighter and to my surprise I ended it up loving the outcome. They were very small but transparent and really depicted a jellyfish yet still being obvious it was made out of bottles. Due to loving them so much, I changed my plan and decided I wanted to make lots of these jellyfish to hang on invisible string at lots of different angles in my space so that it will look like a cluster of swimming jellyfish. Because of being so thrilled with the outcome, I settled for changing the plan and making my sculptures out of plastic bottles which also matched my fashion focus of found objects really well! Im really happy with the outcome and new plan as I was cautious with working with wire as I never have before. In the images below show the wire prototype and plastic prototype with a step by step guide on how I made them.
APRIL 13TH- making more jellyfish and music!
This was a busy week for me as I carried on making more and more jellyfish and what I personally love is that they are all unique and different to eachother and different sizes which depicts clusters of real life jellyfish well. As the space I want to use for my fashion space is at my home in Brighton, I wont be able to create the space physically till I’m there which is making me slightly anxious leaving it late however I am making sure I have all my materials needed and a action plan before I’m in Brighton. As well as this, the model I want to use for my fashion jellyfish garment shoot is my best mate from uni so I also will have to take the images in Brighton as well however I have that all planned too so when I’m back it will be a busy busy week!!! As mentioned before, I planned on making a song for the videos I will take of the jellyfish space as I can’t bring the space to uni therefore wanting it digitally accessible on a website. I’ve never made a song before but by brother, Ollie is experienced in making songs for fun on FL Studio. He makes anything from dnb to speed garage to jungle and the list is endless (so not singing songs but like dj songs). As I’m unexperienced, it was more of a collaboration rather then just me making the song. I said I wanted it to be ambient, etheral, peaceful but with a bit of bass. He showed me how to use the software which was very very confusing but I sort of got the hang of it by the end. We made it in a day on FL Studio and you basically can use free beats they provide or source your own and you edit them to make a song and add lots of different things such as bass, synths, vocals etc. He mostly did the editing and refined it but I told him what to do and what I wanted or what to add and get rid off. I ended up loving the start of the song which is what I will use for my short video. I felt it matched the dreamy, and tranquil vibe I wanted which goes well with the ocean and floaty-ness of the jellyfish if that makes sense. The middle of the song we got a bit carried away as it had a lot of bass and was harder but I’m thinking I can use that for videos of the photoshoot. Next steps include carrying on documenting in my sketchbook and making more jellyfish! Im feeling good about what I’ve done so far, my only anxiety is about how much I’ve got when I’m back in Brighton.
APRIL 20TH- planning space and making graphics.
This is the last week home before returning back to Brighton and i got SO MUCH DONE. I started by spending a whole day with my brother where he taught me how to use softwares such as Blender to make 3D design and FL Studio to make music. These softwares are extremely difficult and confusing to use hence me asking my brother, Ollie who is highly experienced in using them to teach me and help as well. I pitched him my ideas of 3D design which were:
- a cloud due to referencing nature and spiritually meaning the divine presence and a spiritual world. I want to add luminescent pillars to replicate the light guidance to the spiritual world but also used to replicate the theme of jellyfish as structural tentacles.
- My second idea is a body of a statue coming to life- mirroring the transformation of a past soul into a new body.
I want to do different pieces that reference the different stages or different outcomes of reincarnation such as your soul turning to a form of nature, object or human. It ended up being really successful as he taught me the basics of Blender and how to navigate the software as well as making my visions come to life. The software was really difficult however having Ollie there to navigate me made it a lot easier. The final pieces we made were the two i envisioned and one similar which was a human iridescent head that had a glow behind the eyes to reference being reincarnated into a new human body.
These are my initial sketches of the graphics i wanted to make and pitch to Ollie.
FINAL GRAPHICS:
We also made the music I wanted and I also pitched the type of music I wanted which was an ethereal, dreamy house beat. I wanted the music to suit the vibe of the ocean’s but in a more conceptual way as obviously theres no music in the sea. We discussed making it fade in and out, have dreamy vocals and echoing beats as that is what i thought of when making music to accompany visuals of my installation. We used FL STUDIO which wasn’t as hard as i anticipated. You had to make or choose a lot of beats and drag and drop them on the menu and edit them all together. This is all documented thoroughly in my sketchbook. Overall I’m really happy with all the work i got done within one day and I think that making music is really unique for this project and something that I’m really proud of learning. I really wanted to experiment with a lot of different mediums throughout this project and learn new skills which I think I’ve done and therefore so far happy! Next steps are planning the space for my installation!
LINK TO SONG:https://soundcloud.com/user-715620527/spirits?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
APRIL 24TH- home and major problem!
I’m finally home after easter break and feeling very stressed about all the work I’ve got ahead of me such as making the installation, conducting shoot and making the website! However i did come across a major problem which is i hate my space…i started making my space within the room i wanted to do it and for some reason it just didn’t look how i envisioned it to do so. The space was dirty and paint hanging off which i should have pre-planned more than i did, so that this error didn’t occur. At this point, I was feeling really defeated and was stuck on what to do as i wasn’t overly happy with the fashion space. In hindsight, I should have used a space that was more thought through and more effective to display the ideas that I had come up with. From this, I knew that i was unhappy with the outcome; and thus my next steps will be to re-think whereabouts I can put my installation.
NEW IDEA
My new idea isn’t too dissimilar from the initial plan, as I’m planning on creating a circular wire frame of which I will hang from my ceiling, and then the jellyfish sculptures can then hang from said frame. I then came up with the idea of making the installation immersive so that viewers can immerse themselves into the installation and almost be apart of the art. Following this i conducted research on artists who make immersive installations such as DOUG WHEELER, THC NYC and SOO SUNNY PARK. This helped me to find out more on what immersive installations are and how they project them and include interactive elements. I still want to incorporate lighting into my installation such as being inspired by FRANK GEHRYS fish lamps where he made fish sculptures with lights within. I want to use that inspiration within my work as well as an overall ambient lighting. I originally was feeling defeated however im eager to make this work! very stressed thooough.
APRIL 25TH- SHOOT DAY!!
Today was shoot day where i originally planned it to be a test shoot however the weather looked horrible for the next week so i decided to do the proper shoot this day and hope for the best.
Overall, the shoot went okay…
The location we chose in the end was William Clarke park as when exploring it there was a bit I didn’t even know existed with a large mass of grass and lots of trees which is what I wanted. The dress was perfect and flowing in the wind which was really effective. Because my cameras aren’t the best, the photos came out really dark even though the sun was shining. This was disappointing when looking at them as they just looked dull and dark. It wasn’t to do with the camera settings as this was the brightest I could get the photos without the dress or skin looking white. I got Lily to do a lot of poses such as laying down, crouching and even running. I wanted to get a lot of angles of the tassels and their movements as they were the main focal point of the shoot.
Some parts went wrong such as my camera overheating, the sun was constantly in and out making it difficult to photograph and people coming past constantly but overall, I’m happy with the photos I got (favourites shown on next slide). As the installation is the main piece of the project, I wasn’t to upset with the photos as they are just added extras to my overall collection of different pieces.
I was a little disappointed with the results from the shoot as it didnt all go to plan and the photos didnt come out exactly how i wanted however photography isnt my speciality and so i was proud of myself that i took the challenge and explored a new medium!
APRIL 26TH- MAKING THE INSTALLATION AND WEBSITE MADE
Following the shoot, it was time to make the installation. The process is documented in more detail within my sketchbook but in short- it was a very tedious process! The metal frame was too weak to hold the jellyfish however i was adamant of not buying any materials for this project as my fashion focus is found objects therefore i made it work. I hung the jellyfish at different angles and lengths in order to replicate them in the ocean. I ended up loving the end result as i felt like all my hard work paid off and the installation looked exactly how i wanted. My favourite part was the lighting as the LEDS within the jellyfish really stood out and made it have an overall magical ambience. The process of making the installation was hard as they kept falling off but it was nothing that a bit of hot glue cant handle. Next steps is making the website though CANVA which shouldn’t take long and making the video with the music.
FINAL INSTALLATION
TESTING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE:
WEBSITE MAKING:
I then added all the images and videography to a website made on CANVA. This was a really easy process as canva is pretty straightforward to use. I’ve finally finished everything and despite there being a lot of highs and lows im really happy with everything and how my idea and concept came to life.
LINK: https://rebirthinstallation.my.canva.site/
REFLECTION:
When reflecting on this project and how I felt at the start versus how I feel now, I am really proud of all the new skills learnt and what I produced as my final pieces. For me, I have never had a specific speciality that is my preferred working style, I would say my favourite is graphic design however I wouldn’t say that I specialise in it therefore I was certain from the get go that I wanted to experiment with a lot of different mediums in order to expand my skills set and that’s exactly what I ended up doing. I experimented with photography, videography, 3D design, website making, physical making and even making music! These are all things I’ve either never done before or have done within group work therefore I am really happy that I fulfilled in pushing myself out my comfort zone and exploring all these different mediums. It definitely was not easy at all, I think the hardest was learning all these different software’s such as FL Studio to create music, CapCut to edit and create videos and Blender to create 3D design. These software’s are so incredibly hard to use and learn if you haven’t before and so it was a massive challenge but luckily, I had my brother to teach me who is experienced so that made things a lot easier and quicker. I think something I really struggled with as well is when the idea in your head doesn’t look like what you imagined in real life. It is quite naive to think that however I did conduct a lot of research and experimentation in order to find what materials, spaces etc. was right for me. Quite a few things went wrong such as my concept for my space originally failing, cameras breaking on set amongst other things however I’m happy with how I conquered those problems and overcame them with solutions. My favourite part of this module was how we could co-design the brief and be really independent with what we produced. At first it was really daunting but once I started making a move on the project the creative freedom allowed it to be really personal and fun. I love my interpretation of the theme of future bodies as I think my idea is unique to me and my incorporation of reincarnation and eternal souls as a future body is something I didn’t see amongst anyone else’s work. I also really enjoyed learning more about the belief and the misunderstandings of it as well.
I think what I would do differently next time is to stop worrying so much! I think I’m always in competition with myself and that causes a lot of pressure on myself to do everything perfectly. That’s why when things went wrong, I did worry a lot despite me rising above it. I also think although I did a lot of planning on things like shoots, making the installation etc that as much planning possible is always needed. Despite making prototypes, I think even more practising would have been effective so that less error occurred.
I think the amount of research I undergone was more than substantial and really extensive, as well as all the experimentation I performed such as experimenting with ai, software’s, collaging, 3D animation etc. I’m really proud with all the experimentation and research I did as it paid off and also allowed me to see what parts worked and what parts didn’t. Overall I enjoyed this module and am more than happy with the work I produced, despite things going wrong at times.
LINKS
WEBSITE:
https://rebirthinstallation.my.canva.site/
note: when playing the video of the installation on my website (5th page) please press play twice in order to hear the music and have the full experience!
MUSIC MADE: